Williamsfamily7 said:
Is it me, or does anyone else feel like the magic might be wearing off a little at WDW?
I've been on these boards twice since our return (8/13 - 8/20) and both times have been to complain. Once about our horrible location at CBR (Trinidad SOuth = BAD), and once about how stinky I think the EMH's are. At this point, I really can't imagine going back for our next visit for a long, long time (Read that as when my kids - currently 15 and 16 years old - are grown, gone, and have kids of their own that we can bring!!)
This was our fifth trip in about the past 12 years. I'm sorry, but the Disney experience just is NOT what it used to be. I'm not talking about getting goosebumps from watching the fireworks, or still loving "It's a Small World." We really enjoyed Soarin' and the daredevils loved Exp. Everest. All that stuff is still A1.
It's just the way Disney used to treat you, as compared to how they treat you now. Here are my thoughts:
Other than our first night there (when we had an absolutely wonderful waiter named Robert at Boatwrights), our waiters/waitresses were average at best. The one at the Yachtclub was well below average to be honest with you. And the hostess at the Concourse Steakhouse bordered on rude.
Beside my unhappiness with Trinidad South at CBR, I had (unfortunately) 3 other occasions to call for customer service. The first time was because our refrigerator wasn't working. It took 3 calls to get someone there, and then they basically insisted the refrigerator was working. I think they left another one just to humor us. The bottom line is, the original one (which they left)was in our room the entire week and never worked. It just wasn't what I would call great customer service.
Our second problem had to do with 2 people in our party's luggage being delivered via Magical Express. All I'm going to say is that their plane arrived at 4:40 p.m. on Sunday, and were down at the Custom House at 9:30 a.m. the next morning TO PICK IT UP. (OK - maybe I'll mention the numerous phone calls we made all through the night, each time NOT getting a straight answer.) I did convince a manager that we needed some type of "compensation" to make up for our total inconvenience (EVERYTHING was in the checked bags, including medications!). In the end, I'm not crazy about how they handled the situation in general. In my opinion, it's the manager's job to see that you have a positive feeling after a situation like that. I KNOW it's not his fault, but guess what, it's not my fault either. And I'm the one paying lots of money to be on vacation!!!
Lastly, I did laundry one day. The change machine was out of order. Unfortunately, the $10 in quarters I brought from home was not enough. I called to ask about getting change and they promised to send someone over immediately. Again, 3 calls later, they're telling me someone came and there was no one there to give the change to. I had not MOVED from that laundry room. I was actually sitting reading a book in the laundry room for 1/2 hour. That is really NOT what I paid money for. Finally, I spoke to a manager (seems to be the only way to get anything done), and he did send someone down. It seems the first person they sent was new and went twice to Trinidad North by mistake. Now I understand that even Disney has new employees, but really, that's pretty ridiculous.
I found that very often things at the parks seemed a little more disorganized - especially the handing out of bracelets for EMH. How do they "run out" at one location and then just not know what to tell people as far as where to go. They were leading us around the park like a bunch of cattle at one point!! When we were waiting to get into "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" someone had messed with the ropes that keep the lines in order. There was no one from Disney there at all, and people were just milling all over and totally cutting in line. Right before they let us in they sent some tiny little girl to try to get the line in the right direction, but half the people wouldn't even listen to her. Alot of people were pretty annoyed at how it was handled.
Lastly, on two different occassions I saw totally overflowing garbage cans with all sorts of over-flow trash on the ground. Granted, it was close to closing time, but I just never saw things like that during past visits.
I'm sure many people will think I'm being too critical. Maybe each of these things sound trivial on there own, but put them all together and it does add up. I guess what I'm saying is that I've just come to expect a more "magical" vacation when I'm at WDW. I'm sorry, but I DO expect more from them. I think they have let things slide alittle.
Hi,
I just returned (8/20/06-8/30/06) and this was my 18th trip to WDW. I agree that certain things have changed. I did not allow anything get in the way of having a wonderful time on our vacation since I cannot control how people treat me, but I can control how I react to them.
I did notice that the bathrooms in EPCOT world showcase weren't as clean as before -- Germany's was downright deplorable even though there was an attendant on duty. Garbage cans were overflowing in Typhoon Lagoon in the Leaning Palms, and at the Flame Tree in the Animal Kingdom when we were there. We couldn't get my nephew a chocolate milk with counter service, so we just paid for it. The gal said only "white milk" was allowable. That was the first and only time that happened.
We came across quite a few CM's from the "old school" that were just so wonderful, but we equally came across some down right uncaring CM's.
In one instance, I was trying to explain to the hotel (POR) concerige that we were charged for five soft drinks (as printed on our receipt) when it should have been included in our table service meal at Alfredo's (I didn't notice it at first because we ordered an extra appetizer--and some of our appetizers never came!). She kept insisting they were "drinks". She didn't understand that they were non-alcoholic and kept insisting "drinks" were not allowable under the dining plan. I kept showing her the receipt that said "soft drinks" and she still didn't understand. I finally gave up. Insult to injury, three of us had water because they were out of iced tea -- so in reality we were charged for water.
We had two rooms and housekeeping was hit and miss, but we generally keep things in order since I can't stand a messy room.
One day, we were sitting at the food court at POR and the gal just came up and started spritzing the table to clean it while we were sitting there. Couldn't figure out what that was about. We were hoping that was only water in her sprayer.
New to us were health issues. The bones in my husband's ankles collapsed and needs an operation. However, that can't happen until the sores on his foot heal. I called before hand and spoke to the special needs department, asking for their assistance, prior to our arrival. They assured me that they would arrange to have us near a bus stop/food court. That never materialized. At the hotel, they asked us to call daily to see if they could accomodate us, but each day I called, they couldn't, so we finally gave up after several days. That was somewhat unsettling because he wasn't going to go along, but I convinced him that Disney is accommodating and I made the arrangements.
We had wonderful meals and service at Narcoose's and the Coral Reef as well as Boatrights. Wolfgang Pucks and Planet Hollywood were also fun and good. Cap N Jacks was good as well. We only had difficulty at Alfredo's. Beside the soft drinks we we charged also for something called "lunch" and I was never able to get that resolved. We were there for dinner. It was an 8:30 reservation and they didn't take us until very late and they were out of a lot of stuff -- including iced tea! They brought us our meals before the appetizers, then insisted we already had the appetizers. I think they were just hurrying because it was late, but I wish they wouldn't have taken us if they couldn't accommodate us. They charged too many table services for our meals (10 instead of 7). It was just one big mess, and even though we were light hearted about it and not complaining, they didn't try to resolve anything so we just took it up with guest services at the hotel later--we just wanted to leave. It was difficult, we didn't get what we ordered but yet they made us feel we did something wrong. And believe me, we are not loud and aggressive and took everything in stride without a negative tone. Perhaps we should be different but it is not our nature. We are an extremely quiet family.
On the positive side, it is Disney, it is fun, and I'm a diehard Disney groupie, but this time around, it was a different feel. We enjoyed ourselves but yet it was stressful compared to past trips. Generally, we go at least every year, but I think I will sit back awhile. As a rule, I miss being there right away, I don't feel like that anymore.
When I go next time (hopefully in August of next year), I will go with little expectations. That way I cannot be disappointed. The more expectations people have, the more chances you have at becoming disappointed.
Amen to that! I treat every CM I encounter the same way I would like to be treated myself. I have never had a bad CM experience, either in the parks or the resorts. A smile goes a long way! 
